Calculator restoration: repairing paint loss

[mfleming]

Hi all,

I thought I'd tap into collective experience to see what advice I might get for restoring paint loss on old banged-up calculators. For the last four months, I've been buying and restoring "For Parts" calculator listings on TAS. I've been able to acquire some 41's, a 42s, 27s, 28s and 20s this way at very low cost. But each though, besides not working, had defects that would certainly cause them to be rejected by a collector. This site has been a goldmine of information on how to bring one of these old calculators back to life, so I hope you might also know how to recolthe an old beauty.

I might add first of all that I am a calculator USER, not a calculator COLLECTOR. I really do enjoy restoring and mastering each of these that I acquire. Some have serious wear, while others have just a little cosmetic damage. Right now, I have a couple of Pioneers that have paint loss around the display bezel edges. A few hairline scratches also mar the surface.

I really can't do anything about someone who carves their name into a calculator face, but I would like to touch up some worn spots here and there to make an acquisition more pleasing to the eye. An attempt with brown and black Scripto markers was OK on a spot here and there, but no so good on larger loss areas.

Does anyone have experience with touching up visible paint loss that they'd like to share? I haven't seen any previous postings, but pointers to past discussions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance to everyone who responds!
~ Mark